Jozy Altidore Scored First EPL Goal for Sunderland vs. Chelsea

Jozy Altidore finally scored his first goal in Premier League play for Sunderland. It came Wednesday afternoon against Chelsea, which is a nice way to get in the scoring books. It’s his first goal in EPL play since February, 2010 when he played for Hull City.

It wasn’t a goal to remember — aside from being his first. Altidore was in the right place to poke in a deflected free kick from close range. If you watch closely it was however a nice show of balance and technique by Altidore to stay on his feet and poke it past Petr Cech.

Last week Altidore was named U.S. Soccer Player of the Year. Despite his lack of scoring output at Sunderland, his status as Jurgen Klinsmann’s first-choice striker for the U.S. National Team remains unchallenged.

Somebody (cough, cough me) predicted he would score more than 15 after he moved to Sunderland in the summer. At least he won’t go into 2014 sitting on zero. Sunderland are already down 2-1 and face a long road from avoiding relegation.